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PICKERINGTON - Micaela DeGenero looked over her shoulder a couple times during her final lap this past Friday and never saw anyone gaining ground.

DeGenero's focus, however, is straight ahead. The Granville senior cruised to victory in the 1,600 during the Division I regional meet at Pickerington North, and she is in position to run for a state title this week.

"The plan was to take it around 500 to go and see what I could put out there," DeGenero said. "I think I eased a little too much at the end and got too comfortable because I saw I had nobody near me, but I know next week it's not going to be that easy."

DeGenero competes at Ohio State's Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium at 5:15 p.m. Saturday. DeGenero's regional-winning time of 4:56.75 was just behind the time of 4:56.70 recorded by Centerville's Lainey Studebaker in Dayton.

DeGenero helped the Blue Aces to a state team title in cross country in 2014 and has won three titles in the indoor state meet. She also has a total of four individual and relay medals at the outdoor state meet, but she has never climbed to the top of the podium.

"It would be nice to go for some super fast time," DeGenero said. "It definitely isn't a new thought to think about the state record, but I don't want to say that's my goal. It kind of consumed me for a couple weeks after indoor when I got the record then, but I realized a week before I ran fast indoors I never would have considered it. The goal is to win state first and foremost, and then anything else that happens after is just extra."

DeGenero will be busy this weekend as she also raced the Blue Aces' 4x800 relay into qualifying position. DeGenero, Destiny Braden, Elle Dickerman and Alyssa Christian placed fourth (9:24.09), and they compete at 4:45 p.m. Friday.

The rest of the Blue Aces simply wanted to give their star a chance to work her magic.

"Our goal was to put Micaela where she wouldn't have to split some crazy split to get us into fourth," Dickerman said. "We wanted to put her into a position where she could just run an average race for her, which is still really good for anyone else."

Granville would be hard-pressed to match the third-place finish turned in by the 2015 foursome, but only DeGenero has prior state experience so the other Blue Aces will relish their opportunity to run against the state's best.

"It feels amazing," Christian said. "I am so excited. I know we are just going to do great as a team."

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Granville junior Natalie Price competes in the 400 this past Friday during the Division I regional meet. She placed second to qualify for the state meet.(Photo: Jess Grimm/Gannett Ohio)

Junior Natalie Price qualified in two events and is in prime position to earn her first individual state medal. She placed third in the 100 (12.23) and second in the 400 (55.91), missing the regional title by just two-hundredths of a second.

Christian placed fifth in the 1,600 (5:10.23) and Rosie Lamb seventh in the 3,200 (11:37.66). DeGenero, Braden, Gracie Dennison and Ciahnna Winston added an eighth in the 4x400 relay (3:57.19). The Blue Aces finished third in the team standings behind Gahanna and Dublin Coffman.

"Sophomore year, we moved up to Division I for the first time, and it's really been a new way of growing as a team," DeGenero said. "It's been really fun to watch everyone kind of rise to the occasion. We went from being this new team in Division I to being one of the powers."

Winston competed in the 300 hurdles (47.09) during the May 25 preliminaries.